Y SIVAJI Vs. CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSIONER NEW DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A letter by Dr. Y. Sivaji, a former Member of Parliament and Chairman, Action Committee of Cotton Growers, Guntur District of the State, is treated as a petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India, for, as noted by us in our order, dated 17-4-1996, it has brought to the notice of the Court an incident that no constitutional authority will ever think of happening as a consequence of its orders or directions. The allegation that Dr. Y. Sivaji has made against the Election Commission and the Union of India in short is that three cotton growers - Mr. Madisetty Kondanda-ramaiah in Guntur District, Mr. Naraeappa in Karimnagar District and Mr. Gali Komaraiah in Nalgonda District of the State have committed suicide and it is apprehended that if the Court does not intervene immediately, large scale suicides amongst the cotton growers in the State may take place as it happened during the years 1986 and 1988 in the District of Guntur and Prakasam. It is stated while international prices of cotton are firming up, the domestic prices are falling down since the beginning of 1996. Out of past fifteen years, in twelve years the domestic prices of kappas are at least 20% lower than international prices. As a result the cotton grower has turned to be a captive producer and almost used to subsidies the domestic textile industry. Dr. Y. Sivaji has also alleged nowhere else no industry is so over protected as Indian textile industry is protected at the cost of cotton growers. Various Government agencies like C.A.B. Textile Commissioner, Ministries of Textile as well as Agriculture are coming out with contradictory figures of production and consumption of cotton playing to the tunes of textile lobby. The domestic cotton prices are lower by at least 40% when compared to last year since import of cotton is under O.G.L. (Open General Licence) and the export is not under O.G.L. The Union of India allowed export of cotton in previous years during June and July which ensured that the total produce reached the mills and traders and who benefited at the cost of the producer of cotton, for the domestic prices of cotton go down and the prices of finished products go up. A specific allegation in this behalf runs as follows :

(2.) Since the matter required immediate attention, we gave notices to the respondents through their standing counsel. Learned Advocate General appeared on behalf of the third respondent before us. The Union of India appeared through its Standing Counsel and the Chief Election Commissioner responded through Mr. C. P. Sarathy, learned Senior Advocate. Since Election Commission sought time, we made an interim order and postponed the final hearing and disposal of the matter to enable the Election Commission and other respondents to show cause, if any, in these words :

(3.) The Union of India had made a positive response by implementing the above direction. The State Government has come forward with a return that such information as it has received from its sources and agencies with respect to the conditions of the cotton growers in the State and the Election Commission has responded by justifying its stand that any decision during the course of elections for the Lok Sabha and some of the State Assemblies to export cotton will be violative of the Model Code of Conduct of the political party in power as well as the candidates who are seeking election to the-Lok Sabha or to the State Assemblies.